Heel breasting machine



March 3 F. ASHWORTH HEEL BREASTING MACHINE Filed May 1, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet l I mm fi March 22, .1932. F. ASHWORT'H HEEL BREASTING MACHINE FiledMay 1, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 mucwhasm Patented Mar. 22, 1932 UNITED STATES PATE T osrios FRED ASHWOBTH, or WENHAM,1MASSAQHUSETTS,.ASSIGNOR To UNITED SHOE MA CHINEBY CORPORATION, or rarnnsoiv, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION or NEW JERSEY namsrme MACHINE Application filed May 1, 1929. Serial No. 359,518.

- This invention relates to heel breastingmachines and is herein. illustrated as embodied in a machine designed to produce a breasting cut at any required angle to the tread face of 5 a heel, although the utility of certain features of the invention is not limited to so-called angular breasting but may be realized in the embodiment of such features in heel breasting machines generally.

19 In the illustrated machine my improved heel breasting mechanism is shown as mounted upon the delivery side of a heel compressi'ng machine from which molded heels are de livered automatically to breasting position.

My rior ap lication for United States Letters f atent, erial No. 133,941, filed September 7, 1926, discloses breasting mechanism arranged at the-delivery side of a heel compressing machine and designedto producea 20 vertical breasting out upon a niold heel which is automatically delivered from the compressing mechanism to the breasting' mechanism, and in certain respects the present invention is in the nature of a development of, and improvement upon, the b-reasting mechanism disclosed in my said prior. application.

In such machines as those above referred to, and indeed in anymachinein which it. is

desired to'feed heels automatically to a breasting knife, itis desirable, for simplicity in the feeding mechanism and ease and'certainty of control of the heels, tofeed the heels ina horizontal plane and deposit them in breasting position with their tread facesdisposed horizontally.'- Moreover, it is much easier to hold a heel securely while it is being breasted if it is in a horizontal position than if it were tilted sufficiently to cause an angular breasting cut to be produced by a vertical knife.

Accordingly, an important feature of the present invention resides in the combination with a movable heel support of a breasting knife arranged at an oblique angle to the y direction of movement of the heel support,

to produce an inclined breasting cut on a heel upon a support when. the support is moved toward the knife. In a good practical construction, as, herein illustrated the bi'easting knife may be supported in an inclined position by a carrier which is capable of approximately horizontal movement longitudinally of the heel but is restrained from substantial vertical movement, the arrang'ement being such that the cutting edge of the knife will move forward while the heel support is moved toward the knife, producing an inclined out upon the breast of the heel.

As shown, the angle of tilt of the knife is the compressing mold, while the breasting knife is mounted upon a floating carrier which is restrained by links, connecting the carrier to a stationary portion of themachine, from substantial vertical movement but is permitted to move approximately horizontally longitudinally of the heel and transversely of the direction of movement of the heel support. Adjustable, inclined guiding members carried by the vertically movable cross head of the compressing machine coperate with the floating knife carrier, ad justably to determine the tilt of the knife and also to produce the necessary movement of the knife edge longitudinally of the heel to cause an inclined breasting cut to be made when the heel support moves upward toward the knife. I

These and other features of the invention contributing to uniformity and accuracy of operation will best be understood by consideration of the following detaileddescription of one embodiment thereof in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the heel breasting 'mechanism showing means for feeding heels thereto;

Fig. :2 isa longitudinal central section,

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of a detail of the angle adjusting mechanism; and j Figs. 4, 5 and 6 illustrate details of mechanism for maintaininga heel accurately in position prior to and during the cutting operation.

Referringnow to the drawings, 10 indi cates a conventional type of frame similar to those commonly used for commercial heel compressors. A stationary heel seat forming die 12 supported in the frame 10 co-operates with the usual heel compressing mold indicated generally by the character 14 and carried by a cross head 16 which is mounted to reciprocate vertically in suitable guides in the frame 10. I

The mechanism for feeding molded heels from the compressing mold 14 to breasting position at the side of the machine comprises a pair of feed chains 18 running fore and aft of the machine and movable transversely of the machine toward and. from each other to engage and disengage from the sides of the heels. A horizontal heel support 20, carried by the cross head 16 and moving vertically therewith, receives the heel, the position of which is accurately determined by gages 22 and an automaticstriker 24, all as fully described in my prior application hereinbefore referred to.

The operations of the machine are so timed that a heel 26 is deposited upon the support 20 just as the cross head 16 is about to reach its lowest position, the feed chains being in engagement with the sides of the heel at this time. In order to guard against any danger of misplacement of the heel, mechanism is provided for keeping it accurately under control from the time it is deposited upon the support 20 until the breasting operation is completed. To this end a rod 28 is arranged to engage the heel before the feed chains 18 release it, as shown in Fig. 2.

The rod 28 is guided for up and down movement through a presser foot 30 which, in turn, is arranged to move up and down in a knife carrier 82 against the frictional resistance afforded by a shoe 34 pressed by a stiff spring 36 against the side of the member 30.

The knife carrier 32 may, in a sense, he called a floating carrier, it being capable of approximately horizontal movement longitudinally of the heel but restrained from substantial vertical movement by links 88 of which the upper ends are pivoted at 40 to the knife carrier and the lower ends are pivoted at 42 to stationary brackets 44, forming part of a casting 46 which is bolted to the frame 10. Threaded into the upper end of the n1ember 30, by a left-hand thread, is a sleeve 48 having an axial guide hole through which the rod 28 passes, the purpose and function of which sleeve will be described in detail hereinafter.

The upper end of the rod 28 is provided with a. knob 50 by which the rod may be turned to effect its vertical adjustment, the rod being threaded, as shown at 52, with a righthand thread, through a block 54 and provided with a lock nut 56 to preserve the adjustment. Fixed in the block 54 is a pin 57 which engages in a slot in the end of a lever 58 pivoted at 60 in a cross member 62 which moves up and down with the cross head 16, as will presently be described more fully. A pin 64, fixed in the lever 58, engages in a slot in the end of one arm 66 of a bell crank lever which is pivoted at 68 in a bracket 7'0 fast to, and extending upward from, the floating knife carrier 32, the other arm 72 of the bell crank lever extending downward from the pivot 68 and carrying a cam roll 74.

The roll 74 co-operates with a rectangular plate 76 adjustably supported in the bracket by a rod 78, upon the upper end of which is threaded an adjusting nut 80 and a lock nut 82. The rod 78 and the plate 76 are freely movable upward through a considerable distance, and the proper adjustment of the nut is such that when the plate 76 has dropped to its lowest position the roll 74 will just pass under its lower end,'as shown in Fig. 2, when the cross head 16 is at the lower limit of its movement.

As the cross head 16 moves downward, the roll 74 rides downward along the upright edge 84 of the plate 76, being held in engagement therewith by a torsion spring 86 surrounding the pivot 60 and bearing upon the top of the lever 58; the downward pressure of the spring 86 upon the lever 58 being transmitted through the pin 64 to. the arm 66 of the bell crank lever and tending to press the roll 74 against the edge of the plate 76. As long as the roll 74 is against the upright edge of the plate 76 the rod 28 is held up away from the heel 26, this being necessary in order to provide clear space to permit the heel to be fed by the chains 18 to breasting position.

At the very end of the downward movement of the cross head 16, the roll 7 4 reaches the'lower end of the plate 76 and passes beneath it, allowing the spring 86 to depress the rod 28 into engagement with the heel. This occurs before the feed chains 18 have been separated to release the heel.

As the cross head 16 and the heel support 20 start to'move upward, the feed chains 18 separate sufiiciently to disengage the heel which is held from disarrangement upon the support 20 by the pressure of the rod 28. As the cross head 16 continues to rise the cross member 62, carrying the levers 58 and 66, rises with it and the cam roll 74 lifts the freely slidable plate 76 until the roll engages the inclined face 88 (see Fig. 4) of a normally fixed but vertically adjustable cam 90 which is secured to the bracket 7 O by a screw 92 passing through a slot 94 in the cam. As the roll 74 rides upward along the inclined cam face 88 the lever arm 72 is swung inwardly of the machine until the plate 76 again drops down behind it, this inward swinging movement of the lever arm 72 causing the rod 28 to be again lifted and maintained out'of' The purpose of the vertical adjustment of V the cam 90 provided for bythe screw and slot 92, 94 is to permit the time when the rod 28 leaves the heel 26 to be so adjusted that at the instant of disengagement the striker .24 will engage the'breast of the heel and position the heel accurately against the back gages 22, as fully described in my prior application. It is sufficient for present purposes tostate that the disengagement of the rod 28 and the engagement of the striker24 with the heel is substantially simultaneous.

As the crosshead 16 continues to rise, and while the striker 24 still engages the breast of the heel, the heel reaches, and is engaged by, the presser member 80 which is forced upward against the resistance. afforded by the friction shoe 34, holding the heel down very firmly upon the heel support 20. Shortly after the heel engages the presser member 30 the striker 24 is retracted out of the way of the. breasting knife and as the upward movement of the cross head 16 continues the heel engages and is cut by the 'breasting knife whichis desi nated bythe numeral 96.

The knife 96 is fastened in the floating knife carrier 32, the upper end of the knife bearing against an adjustable screw'98 by which the vertical position of the cutting edge of the knife is determined. Rising from the cross head 16 are parallel uprights 100 to the upper ends of which is rigidly secured the cross member 62 which, as previously stated, moves up and down with the cross head 16. I Q

' The lower ends of the uprights 100 are secured in blocks 102. the lower faces of which are seini-cylindrical and concave, resting upon convert bearings 104 secured upon the cross head 16. Each block 102 isprovided with a slot 1 )6 (Fig. 3) through which passes a belt 108 the head 110 of which bears upon a friction block 112 which, in turn,

bears on the'convex top face 114 of theblock 102. A nut 116 threaded upon the lower end of the bolt provides for drawing down the friction block 112 until theblock 102 is held sufficiently to make the uprights 100- and mechanism held thereby self-supporting, although they may be moved manually about the axis of the bearing member 104 to adjust the angular position of the uprights 100.

For the purpose of maintaining ri idly the angular adjustment of the uprights 100 screws 118, threaded through the cross head 16 are arranged to engage the block 102 and support rigidly against angular movement.

-' The uprights 100 have a sliding fit in the floating knife carrier 32, being freely movable upand down through the knife carrier but determining positively the horizontal position of said carrier longitudinally of the heel, and its angular relation to thehorizontah Itwill be apparent that if the uprights 100 be adjusted to a vertical position they will move up and down through the knife carrier without producing any horizontal movement thereof, since the centers of the pivots the up and down movement of the cross head 7 16 and the inclined uprights 100 carried there-' by will obviously cause the knife carrier to move longitudinally of the heel approximately horizontally, thelinks 38 swinging to permit such movementbut preventing any substantial amount of vertical movement of the knife carrier. The resultof this will bet-hat as the heel moves upward past the cutting edge of the knife, the knife will move progressively longitudinally of theheel in a direction determined bythe. direction in which the uprights 100 are tilted, causing an inclined or angular breasting cut to'be made upon the heel, the angularity *of the out being determined by thetilt of said uprights. j l

It may observed that the breast edge of-the heel support 20 is arranged substantially in the of: the bearings 104 and that said axis is also, as closely as-possible, in line with the knife 96, from which it follows that when the heel support 20 reaches the edge of the knife the breast edge of the heel-support will pass closely by the knife edge so the angular adjustment of the uprights When the breasting out has beencompleted the presser member 30 will have been forced by the heel to an'elevated 'positionwhere it wiill remain temporarily, the heel leaving it immediately when the cross head 16 starts downward. As the downward movement of t 1e cross head continues the cross member 62 will presently engage the upper" end of the sleeve 48, forcing the presser foot 30downward'against the resistance of the friction shoe 34 until eventually the parts again reach the relative positions, illustrated in Fig. 2.

The purpose of the adjustment effected by screwing the rod 52 up or down through the block 54 is to provide for heels of different heights, it being desirable that a greater clearance space between :the lower end of the rod 28 and the heel support 20, when the rod held up by the roll 74 riding against the upri ht edgeof'the alate 76, be rovided a l P when high heels are being operated upon than when low heels are being operated upon.

Likewise, for a similar reason, it is desirable that the presser member be adjusted vertically and this is accomplished by providing a flat face 120 upon the side of the rod 28 (see Figs. 2 and 5) which flat face co-operates with a correspondingly formed portion 122 of the sleeve 48, permitting the rod to move freely up and down through the sleeve but forcing the sleeve to rotate with the red when the rod is turned. Inasmuch as the sleeve 48 is connected to the presser member 30 by a left-hand thread and the rod 28 engages the block 54 by means of a right-hand thread, it may be seen that the vertical adjustment of the rod 28, by turning the knob 50, will produce movement of the rod and the presser member in the same direction and at a relative rate determined by the relative pitches of the screw threads upon the rod 28 and the sleeve 48, the said screw threads being designed to cause the correct relative adjustments of the two members to occur.

To insure positively that the presser member 30 shall not turn about its axis when the sleeve 48 is screwed into or out of it a flat face 124 (Fig. 6) formed upon one side of said presser member co-o-perates with a correspondingly formed face upon the friction shoe 34 where the latter engages the presser member.

After the heel has been breasted and has left the foot of the presser member 30 it is kicked out of the machine into a delivery chute 126 by the striker 24, as described in my prior application, and the next heel is fed into b'reasting position upon the heel support 20, ready for a repetition of the operanation of a tilted breasting knife, and a horizontal heel support movable toward and from said knife, the knife being substantially immovable in the direction ofmovement of the heel support.

3. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of an angularly adjustable breasting knife, and a horizontal heel support movable toward and from said knife, the knife being substantially immovable in the direction of movement of the heel support.

4. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a tilted breasting knife, a. horizontal heel support movable toward and from said knife, and means permitting the cutting edge, of the knife to move longitudinally of I the heel While the heel support moves toward the knife.

5. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of an upright breasting knife mounted to move approximately horizontally transversely of its cutting edge but restrained from substantial vertical movement, and a horizontal heel support which is movable vertically toward the knife.

6. In a heel breast-ing machine, the combination of a breasting knife, and a heel support movable toward the knife to force a heel upon said support against the cutting edge of the knife, the knife being movable transversely of.its cutting edge and of the direction of movement of the heel support during the cutting operation.

7. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a movable heel support, and a .breasting knife which is substantially immovable in the direction of movement of the heel support but is movable through a substantial distance transversely of its cutting edge and transverse to said direction.

'8. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a movable heel support, a breasting knife movable transversely of the direction of movement of the heel support, and connections between the heel support and the knife constructed and arranged to cause movement of the heel support to effect movement of the knife.

9. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of an upright breasting knife, a heel support vertically movable toward the knife, and inclined guides connected to the heel support and co-operating with the knife to move the knife transversely of the direction of movement of the heel support.

10. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a heel support, having a breast edge, and a breasting knife which is angularly adjustable about an axis coinciding sub stantially with the breast edge of said heel support.

11. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a heel support, having a breast edge, a breasting knife which is angularly adjustable about the breast edge of said heel support, and means for moving the heel support past the cutting edge of the knife.

12. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a breasting knife, a movable heel support having a breast edge in line with the knife, means for moving the heel support toward the knife in a direction at an angle to the knife, and means for keeping the knife in line with the breast edge of the heel support during said movement.

13. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a tilted breasting knife. a vertically movable heel support having a breast edge in line with the knife, and tilted guides movable with the heel support and co-operating with the knife to maintain the knife in line with the breast edge of the heel support in all positions of said support.

14. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a heel support, means for engaging and holding a heel firmly in position upon the support for a breasting operation, a breasting knife, means for reciprocating the heel support to breast the heel, and means for varying the angular relation between the knife and the heel support to vary the angularity of the heel breast.

15. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a heel support, means for holding a heel firmly upon said support in position for a breasting operation, a knife, means for reciprocating the heel support toward and from the knife to cause the knife to breast the heel, and guides for the knife adjustable to vary the angularity of the heel breast.

16'. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a floating, upright knife carrier, a breasting knife secured to said carrier, means for restraining said carrier from substantial vertical movement,-means for imparting,

approximately horizontal movement to said carrier and means for maintaining it always inlthe same angular relation to the horizonta 17. In a heel breasting machine, the combination of a vertically movable heel support, inclined parallel guides carried by said support, a floating upright knife carrier through which said guides are movable, a

breasting knife upon said carrier, and upright links connecting said carrier to stationary portions of the machine to prevent substantial vertical movement of the carrier during the movement of the heel support.

In testimony whereof I' have signed my name to this specification.

FRED ASHWORTH. 

